The Missing Cat Mystery
The world around us is full of inexplicable mysteries, if one looks close enough. If immortals lived all the billions of years the earth has existed, they would not be able to uncover half. Philosophy, science, art, religion, all these things explore the mysterious. Those who search for mysteries are known as the Marquis! They uncover and investigate mysteries and sometimes punish evildoers. This is their legend. Prologue A jewel thief cowered in hiding. "I think I lost him." Something tapped him and he turned to look into a masked face with a cloak flowing behind it. The figure was wearing tight but elegant clothes and a green tie. Taking a few steps backward, the thief raised a gun. "Don't make me shoot." The figure responded in a male voice, "have you ever watched a film? That's a bad idea." The thief responded, "I know the difference between film and reality." He shot several rounds, which the masked figure blocked with his walking stick. "Sorry, I'm far more badass than anyone in television. Also, before you shoot again, I'd look behind you." "Viel Vögel flattern ein und aus," said a voice behind him. He turned to see a female figure standing in a large dress, with a dove mask. "I feel strength flowing through me," said the male figure, "drink it up! Trinken macht die Augen hell!" The unfortunate thief cowered in fear as he tripped, spilling stones all around him. "The police will be here soon," said the first. The thief found himself wishing he had never thought of stealing. Chapter OneCategory:Ultra S Episodes Hibiki Shindo walked home from a rather tiring workday. He should have been... something... anything but a teacher. There had been a new transfer student, but unlike the world of television, he had not brought any excitement or major change. Not to mention that the concept of Latin passive seemed to resist his attempts to get them into the students' minds. He was interrupted by cats. Lots of cats. They all stood behind him. "I've fond you," said a voice above him, and a masked figure jumped from the building above him with astounding agility. "Ah, so you're the one behind this? Another human disguise." So saying, the masked figure drew a sword out of his walking--sword stick, seriously, who carried sword sticks? and attacked. Hibiki ran, only to see the same figure in front of him. He was pushed out of the way by another masked figure, who said, in a rather heavy British accent, "Run." The first figure, wearing a snake mask, confronted the newcomer. "What is it this time, Spatze?" The other, wearing a sparrow mask, responded, "you've made a mistake again. You may be cunning, but you're to rash. 'Be cunning as serpents, and gentle as lambs!'" "What you call 'rashness' is the champaign of the soul! You should drink it while you have the chance, Spatze. Trinken macht die Augen hell." "Mir eine Tasse Tee." responded Spatze, and, taking an elaborate chimney-pot hat from his head, proceeded to twirl it on his walking stick, which did not contain a sword. Putting both on the ground, where they remained standing, he threw open his coat and drew out a fencing rapier. "I'll either enjoy beating you up, or being beat up by you," said the snake-masked figure, "I think I'll simply knock on your filthy uncultured head so you won't have the chance," responded Spatze. Both of them were knocked down by a blast of wind, as a female figure appeared on the rooftops, with grey wings spreading behind her. "No more infighting, boys. Fledermaus himself sent me, and you must not let your lead be wasted. Where is the Duchess this time?" The two men looked sheepishly at eachother. "It seems we have had the misfortune of losing it, Taubchen," said Spatze. "I am sure the sparrow is willing to take it on, while you and I--" began the yet-unnamed other, before the said sparrow rapped him sharply on the back with his walking stick. Taubchen swooped down. "We can't afford to lose track of the Duchess. As Marquis, it is our duty to stop them, not stand here arguing like immature idiots." "If Die Fledermaus himself has sent you, it must be important," said Spatze. "Have you ever heard of the tortoise who wanted to see the world, and asked the aid of ducks? Meddling in that which does not concern you will lead to your downfall." The snake-masked figure listened in silence, while muttering to himself, "Well, Rosalinde, it seems Faulk has confided in you more than I imagined." Chapter Two Hibiki woke up, glanced at the clock, and leaped out of bed. He lived in an moderately-sized flat near his school, Discipuli Vitae. It was an extraordinarily out-of-the ordinary establishment. An old building, it had been originally modelled after an American school but had soon lost all hints of such. The teaching board was as eccentric as any, as were most of the students. Most students graduated to become famous in those fields were eccentricity is usual, such as poetry, science, and Cannon Law. One teacher was assigned to each subject, and would do different grades throughout the day. History, philosophy, the natural sciences, foreign languages, writing and poetry, and other such things were held in high regard. Students learned to sing and dance, taught by Edward Souma. He was an effeminate young man who would only listen to waltzes, preferably Strauss. In dance class, however, he loved swing and adored the polka, and nobody understood why. His motto was "nous avons change tout cela", and it showed. Nowhere else were waltzes in 4/4 to be found. The history teacher was Mr. Rekishi, a man who loved books. When he had first seen the curriculum from America, and found that the history class consisted of American History, American History, More American History, and Even More American History, he had been shocked and developed his own. In his own words, "How can one learn about America without learning about Britain and France before, and the Medieval Times before that, and the Romans before them, and the Greeks which came before, and then the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians and the other builders of civilization?" And so, students had read most of Herodotus by seventh grade and completed Plutarch by tenth, not to mention Caesar's accounts, for as Rekishi said, "The best history is written by its figures." The fine arts and literature teacher was, for some reason, called Gandalf, and went by no other name. He was incredibly old and had no concept of modern technology, and his students laughed quietly at the..... outdated words he was always using. One of them recorded a certain phrase, and posted it to tumblr. It became a meme which lasted several weeks before dying away, when it was discovered again people got tired of it. Hating it became another meme and hating the haters another, but by then a new internet generation had found it and the cycle started over. That, however, is not part of this story. Physics and chemistry were taught by Joanna Arc Teresa Avila John Marie Viannie Alekendamakinidikana, who was responsible for most of the repairs on the building. Her classroom was a full-scale laboratory, which was almost always in the stages of being built. After several cases of suing, the school had purchased expensive full body suits for all her students. When not teaching she was inventing, and the police had come more than once to confiscate this weapon or that dangerous bomb. Nobody knew what they were for, but nobody questioned it. Nobody questioned Joanna Arc Teresa Avila John Marie Viannie Alekendamakinidikana. The arithmetic teacher was her invention, a robot. Most of the teachers could not stand math, and those that did had no time, and so she had built one and named it Mathy. Mathy was incredibly popular among the students, but had been confined to indoors after short-circuiting when one of the students tried to take him swimming. He had built in guns, for.... some reason. Natural history, biology, and several other sciences were combined into a class called "Earth Sciences, a Study," taught by Mr. Kendo. He was obsessed with modern progression, but liked other sources. And so, this was the class were The Bible was read alongside Darwin and Copernicus alongside Galileo. Why astronomy was considered an earth science was never answered, but Kendo had insisted upon teaching it. Another reason for his teaching was because any other astronomy teacher who would stay at the school for more than a week was hopelessly obsessed with astrology as well. Philosophy was taught by a certain Mrs. Anthony, who was so reasonable she could make unreasonable things make sense. She had once argued an entire class into believing that the moon was made from cheese, and then proved how wrong they were in believing that while proving she had never made a mistake in reasoning. When around her, most soon found themselves doubting their existence or the existence of things around them. Grammar was the province of a lady known as Aadila Urshia. She was arguably the only sane person in the place, very quite and laid back but intelligent. She wore her hjab to school every day and behaved with the utmost beauty and simplicity. Of all the teachers, she was the only one who was always on schedule, who taught a good class which was at the same time normal. She always brought her own food because she never knew what exactly went into the school's. The principle was named Yona Liraz. She had the entire old testament memorized, and brought her own food as well. She made sure Hanukkah deserts were served before Christmas break by making them all herself. Nobody knew how she did it, but she did. Nobody knew how she managed to run the school, but she did. Nobody knew how she managed to teach classes when one of her teachers missed their time or went overtime with a previous class, but she did. Fierce she was as well, and many of the wilder teachers had the liveliest terror of her, to say nothing of the students. Chapter Three "Now, class, who can conjugate 'sum' for me?" Hibiki asked for the fourth time that day. "You there, Thomas, go ahead.: "Sum sumes sumet sumemus sumetis sument, right?" Hibiki with much difficulty restrained himself from banging his head into the wall. In a voice as quiet as he could keep it, he said, "Sum is an irregular verb. The conjunction is 'sum es est, sumus estis sunt'. Now, repeat after me.." Just then, Miss Cecilia came in. She was the music teacher, and had any assortment of instruments in her room. Her room had been sound-proofed because she practised scales backwards and forwards and upside-down and sideways and sharp and flat from four in the mourning to eight o'clock. She then finished the day from eight (pm) to ten with even more scales. In between she practised and practised and practised whenever she wasn't teaching a class. She was a huge fan of Bach, which explained her tremendous punctuality. "Your class is already 2.12 seconds overtime," she said. Hibiki groaned. ---- Of all the possible times for a cat to show up, lunchtime was probably the worst. It had been Joanna Arc Teresa Avila John Marie Viannie Alekendamakinidikana's turn to cook, and the Baked Alaska she had intended for lunch had accidentally set fire to the tablecloth in the mess hall. Mathy came to the rescue with his built in garden hose, but by that time everyone was coughing and hungry. Yona came to the rescue with Chinese food and pizza, which came so quickly one would suppose she had predicted the disastrous results of Anna cooking lunch. Then the cat jumped through the window. A little old lady hobbled up, and began to ask for the baby. Then the cat had to be caught (it was in an inordinately wild state) and returned. Everyone sat down again. Then there was a knock. Two constables came in. "Pardon us, but it has come to our attention that this school is disguising dangerous weapons of war as arithmetic teachers." Joanna Arc Teresa Avila John Marie Viannie Alekendamakinidikana stood up. "No, the arithmetic teacher is disguised as a megaton superweapon. Meet Mathy. He has a built in fire extinguisher, microwave, computing abilities, is his own free wi-fi hotspot, and has fantastic offensive and defensive capabilities." Yona groaned, never feeling more relieved that she had a sister in the head of the police department. "We have permission to store a defensive weapon in the case of terrorist, kaiju, giant robot, attacking animal, or other such occasions of danger where violence may be required." It was safe to say all those occasions had happened at the school. ---- There was an explosion and everybody scattered. Joanna Arc Teresa Avila John Marie Viannie Alekendamakinidikana ran into the smoke. Teachers and students scattered. Soon the room was deserted, but Hibiki remained. He had seen the cat knocked down, and ran to it. Just then he was stopped by a rough blow. "The game's up, Czar. For me, your punishment will be a fine drink. Trinken macht die augen hell." Hibiki looked up to see Schlange standing over him. "Does everything you say have to do with drinking?" he asked. "No. It's not generally accepted everywhere," came the response. "Stop!" came a voice. Hibiki turned and found himself staring into another masked face, that of Taubchen. "This man is not the Csardas, he is only a teacher. However, he is eligible to become one of the missing members." Spatze arrive on scene. "But which one?" Schlange acted somewhat put-off. "I still say he's the Caridas," he said. "Csardas," Taubchen and Spatze corrected at the same time. "Could someone explain just what is going on?" Hibiki asked. "No." said all three. The smoke began to clear and the three Marquis ran away into the mist. Mathy came to the rescue, again, and classes went on as normally as was possible. Until an army of cats rushed through the hallways into Hibiki's classroom in the middle of a recitation of the second conjunction present indicative active. "I believe this is a sign," said a female voice in another room. "Katze is beginning to awaken. However, someone else will arrive first..." ---- Miss Cecilia was busily practising scales while a pair of nightingales sang along in her window. She looked up as Taubchen entered. "You have mastered the powers Die Fledermaus invested in you. You will become Nachtigall, the newest member of the Marquis!" said Taubchenl. "What do you mean?" asked Cecilia. "Come to me, we have enough time before your next class of students. You will meet our master, you will become the next Marquis to battle the Csardas!" Easily picking the willing, if dubious Cecilia up, Taubchen soared into the sky. Chapter Four "Hello?" Yona picked up the phone: it was from her sister in the police force. She always dreaded this calls.\ "Hi Yona!" her sister sounded way to perky, "I'm just calling to tell you to be careful! People and cats have been disappearing in the area lately." "People and cats?" inquired the principle. "Yes! Well I have to go now, officer duties, you know." It was Hibiki's turn to cook dinner. After shooing the cats out of the building (pets were not allowed inside, and had never gone inside before), he set to work. Going out into the herb garden, a huge smell began to overcome him. It was pepperminty, and very nice, but it was so overpowering he could barely breath. Vine tentacles shot out and grabbed him. He caught one glimpse of a huge bushy viney gigantic mint plant before his head hit the concrete and passed out. Cecilia had finished her classes and was going back to playing Rachmaninov when a nightingale landed near her. "Very well," she said. Taking from her bag a tiny silver flute, she played the opening notes to Beethoven's Symphony No. 6. "Sister Earth, give me power!" A mask covered her face: it was a nightingale. Her pants remained similar to what they were before, but her top became much more elegant and extended. With a bound she flew out of the window and landed gracefully on the ground. A grand piano fell out of her purse and she sat down and began playing... an adoption of the overture to The Flying Dutchman. The piano's wheels began to turn and it sped towards the garden. It drove right through the mint plant, which bruised the vines but caused the smell to be greater. The cats came out and quickly dragged Hibiki away. Nachtigall turned to look for a second in surprise, but quickly brought her attention back to Mentha Spicata. Out of her purse she pulled a violin and she used it as a club until it broke. Then she punched, knocking the plant back with her tremendous strength. She grabbed from her purse flute and she used it as a sword, then brought it to her mouth and played a piercing note. She pulled a trumpet out of her purse and she began to play "Ride of the Valkrie" from the Ring Cycle, and sonic blasts knocked the mint plant flat. Then the mint plant fled. Nachtigall knew she was not the fastest: her province was strength. She let it escape because it was nearly dinner time. Yona would be ordering take out again. Chapter Five Cecilia stole quietly into the mess hall about two minutes late. She was still a good bit earlier than most of the teachers, but it was the first time she had been late in her life. Only Yona was there. This was unusual, as usually several teachers were a good deal early for mealtimes. Sensing what was going on in the other woman's mind, Yona said, "it's fine to be a little late if something important happened." "Liraz-sensei," began Cecilia, but stopped as Edward entered. Teachers and students began filing in, but Hibiki was missing. "Cecilia," said Yona, "go search for Hibiki." Cecilia then smelled it. A strong overpowering spearmint smell, as if someone were putting on thousands of pots of mint tea. ---- A gardening shed exploded into shreds as a little old lady began to pull mint roots out of her garden. Mentha Spicata had destroyed the shed, and snatched up a poodle and consumed it, and began to destroy plants. The lady passed out from the overpowering scent. Just then a flying piano knocked the monster down. It was now as big as a small house. "This time I'll destroy you!" said Nachtigall, but paused as she glanced at a clock. Dinner was almost over. Grabbing the little old lady, she put her in safety, and dodged a thrust from a long minty tentacle. "Well then, I'll just destroy you in time!" The clock tolled. Distracted, Nachtigall was grabbed and flung into the very clock face. She felt the vines covering her legs, and fought back with all her strength, reaching into her bag and grabbing a flute. Having consumed all the gardens on the city block, the plant was now nearly as large as a skyscraper, and the police were trying, without much success to combat it. ---- The school was being evacuated. The students were packed into buses and sent to a refuge. All the teachers went off to find rides, and Hibiki managed to get to safety. ---- Nachtigall used her flute to cut the vines encircling her. She was again knocked down, and this time her arms were pinned to a wall as the plant grew even larger. A sword buried itself in the tentacle and Spatze arrived. Retrieving his blade, he slung it into his sword blade. "Let the maiden free!" he ordered. Instead of letting her go, the plant caught him as well, and flung him to the ground, trapping him by the waist and upper legs. Schlange was the next to arrive. He attached with a will, but was knocked down next to Spatze. There was a blast of wings and Taubchen arrived. "Quickly! We must destroy it or else it will consume the universe!" she said. With a powerful wind she freed the others, and they encircled it, cutting off vines. "Strike for its roots," the dove ordered. She was caught and pinned down. Spatze and Schlange tried to free her, but they were soon imprisoned as well. Nachtigall was thrown back. "Go get the other Marquis," Taubchen called. "We can hold out for about five hours here, and if they arrive, we'll be able to win. Our powers will keep the mint from absorbing us, but you don't have that much time. Hurry!" "But... I was already late today," Cecilia said to herself, before hurrying off on her piano. Chapter Six Into the mysterious ballroom she ventured. "Where is everyone?" she asked. A panel opened. Out of it stepped a magnificent figure, dressed entirely in black with a bat mask. His entire form was silhouetted, and his mask was the only part of him visible. "Shall I summon the other Marquis?" he said. "Yes.... I was sent by Taubchen...." she responded. "I know it all," he said, "I will summon Vogel and Adler. Those two should be the help you need to rescue Spatze, Schlange and Taubchen." He raised his hand and two female figures appeared. Vogel wore a multicoloured dress with wings and a bird mask. She was not any bird from earth, but a bird. A bird. She was a bird, but no specific bird. Some would say she was a sparrow gifted with peacock feathers, others would say she was a peacock with the genes of an owl and a hummingbird. She was not a new species -- she was every species of bird, depending upon which angle you viewed her. Adler was obviously an eagle. She had magnificent wings and a glorious hooked beak and noble face. Her plumage was gold and brown, for it was plumage. She wore bunched pants, but her legs were bare from the knee down, until her feet, upon which she wore hooked shoes which looked indeed like the claws of an eagle. They could grasp objects: she alighted, perched, on a chandelier, with her metal claws grasping it like iron. 30 minutes left. The summoning had taken longer than Cecilia expected, and she did not realize how long it would take her to go to the school. She still had to explain the mission to her two companions, who were both probably very much her seniors. She looked around for Die Fledermaus, but he was gone. "I was sent by Taubchen. We have to rescue Spatze, Schlange and Taubchen herself from Mentha Spicata." "How did Taubchen get caught like the likes of Spatze and Schlange?" Vogel inquired with a superfluous air. "Don't make fun of other Marquis," said Adler, sounding like a wise superior. An Obi-Wan sort of character, but female. "They may seem like idiots to you, but they have what makes a Marquis. They have spirit and strength and courage and hope and love." 25 minutes. "Adler, don't talk like you're my superior! We joined at a similar time." At this point, Cecilia thought Vogel was just being petty. "I am your superior, in real life that is," responded Adler. "ooops." "CAN WE JUST GET GOING!" shouted Nachtigall. "Right, what was our mission?" said Vogel. 15 minutes. Riding her piano, Nachtigall navigated frantically through the streets towards the titan of destruction which had the power to destroy the world. Adler was soaring ahead so high she was invisible to those on earth. She could see the monster, far below, and those in its grasp. 1 minute. 30 seconds. no time. "It's OK!" came Taubchen's cheerful voice. "We can still hold out for a good while!" "What do you mean?" shouted Nachtigall. Chapter Seven "We can still hold out," Spatze explained, "Taubchen just gave you an earlier limit.." Cecilia didn't know whether to laugh or be infuriated. "Besides, it's a tentacled monster. We don't get those very often and--" Schlange was cut off by Spatze's elbow to his ribs. Drawing nearer to the massive monster, Cecilia leaped off her piano. From the sky, Adler fell. She did not fly down, she dropped. "Verb: ATTACK! Object: MINT!" Her feet extended into huge claws bigger than herself which ripped through the tentacles binding the others. A minty smell was released into the air, but Nachtigall blew it away with a trumpet. Vogel summoned a football and kicked it at supersonic speed. "Goal." she said as it smashed through right into the root system. Schlange used a cane to shoot countless cds at Mentha Spicata, which turned in the air with sharp edges and cut threw the plant, making furrows in the air as they boomeranged around. The sound of Shostakovich's second waltz filled the air. With his sword stick, Spatze began slashing at the ground. "Destroy the roots. Mint is very hard to eradicate, we need to find a way but this should give us time. "Music is like tea, power is the liquor to give it kick!" said Schlange. ""Trinken macht die Augen hell."" Mir ein tassen tee," said Spatze. "Viel Vögel flattern ein und aus!" Taubchen said. "So weise und stark verwähnt sich der Held, als gebunden und blind er doch ist." said Adler wisely. "Dämm'rung deckt die Lande," exclaimed Vogel. "Ich singe fort so süß und fein!" added Nachtigall. "Die waffe scharf ihrer schneide wirst du dich freun." they said together. "Mors stupebit et natura," Taubchen said with an iron voice like that of a judge, "Your existence is forbidden. Prepare to be destroyed." The six Marquis attached the root system of Mentha Spicata at once. Taubchen swooped into the air, casting a light down upon the plant. Die Fledermaus' voice could be heard, "Popule meus, quid feci tibi?" "What has God done that you would cause such a crime?" cried Taubchen as she shot down in a ball of flame. "Judgement has be passed." The mint plant collapsed to the ground, its root system incinerated. Chapter Eight The teachers began arriving at around 4 in the morning, about an hour before the students woke up. Yona served Cecilia and Hibiki mint tea. It was not an infusion, that is, mint steeped in hot water, for that is not tea, but actual tea mixed with mint leaves. Cecilia was HARDLY in the mood for mint tea, but took it anyway. "I suppose we should prepare for the early risers," she said. "I've texted most of the students about what to prepare," Yona said, as she always knew exactly what the teachers were doing via a complicated system of communication which did work amazingly well. Edward arrived, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "I've got your headache medicine," Yona said, pushing over a steaming mug of a special tea blend. "Thanks.." he muttered, sitting down suddenly. "Cecilia," Yona said, "could you please go into the basement and get some of my canned tomatoes? Mrs. Anthony will want it for her tomato-rice casserole she'll be making." "How do you know what she'll be making?" Cecilia asked. Yona responded, "I saw her preparing the ingredients yesterday, she knew today would be her turn. By the way, Edward, it's your turn tomorrow. No flammable fruit cake or rum balls, please. Also, if you want to marinate, don't use up my secret store of wine. How did you know about it anyway?" Edward was asleep. Yona sighed. "Hibiki, wake him up before the students come downstairs and give him a shot of cappuccino. Tell him not to stay up late again." ---- The basement was full of spiders, old pots, and canning equipment. Several of the teachers canned, and these were the special resource of the school. Unlike several of the other teachers, Cecilia liked spiders. She then saw a wasp hunting them. She was dreadfully afraid of wasps, and shuddered. Just then a door appeared in the wall. "Come here," said a child's voice. She walked forward and opened it. Inside the door was a space with a greyish light, with a floor of glass and walls of mirrors. Near her was a fountain, with crystal clear water bubbling up from it before disappearing into the floor. On the fountain was a crystal cup. "Where am I?" she asked, for the door had never existed before, and the room was far larger than the entire school building. It was not so much a room as a universe. "This is the well of wishes," said a voice, and a figure stepped out. They was clothed entirely in black, and had the face and voice of a child. Their gender could not be distinguished. "This is the water of wishes." they said. "The water if wishes?" Cecilia asked. "If you drink, your wish will be granted," they responded. "What can I wish for?" she asked. Daode said, "Anything, but beware. Everything has a price. Small wishes have small prices, great wishes, great prices. Are you willing to pay the price?" "What sort of price?" asked Cecilia. "I cannot say," said Daode, "but there will be a price. Have you heard the story of Adam and Eve? They wished to learn the difference between good and evil, and because of that, evil was released into the world. That was the price. Beware." Cecila said, "then is it wise to not wish, or is it wise to wish for the small things?" "I am not a measurer of wisdom," Daode responded. "Then I will wish, even if it is foolish," Cecilia said. She walked forward and filled the crystal cup with the liquid. She drank it: it was sweet but undoubtedly water. She then looked up. "What did you wish for?" asked Daode. She turned and smiled at him. "I wished that the spiders would be safe from the wasp." "I am not a measurer of wisdom, but if I was I would say that was foolish," he responded. The fountain and area faded away and the basement appeared around her again. Seeing the tomatoes, she stepped forward to reach for them, but stopped at a pain in her foot. The wasp was crushed under her bare toe, but she felt the pain of its bite. She looked down at the swelling red lump in pain, and limped up the stairs with the tomatoes. "Your price has been paid," said Daode's voice. Chapter Nine Cecilia opened the door to the basement and stepped into another void. "Great," she said mentally, "not again." She saw the same figure as before approaching her, but wearing white clothes instead of black. "Not you again..." "I am they, but not them. They are darkness, I am light. We are the same, but we are polarities. We reflect each-other, but we are both good. I am the source of your power, they are the source of your enemy's," they said. Cecilia was aware when she had stepped into what seemed like a b-scifi movie. "You know, I'm pretty sure communication would help and prevent a lot of problems later on." "Your wish was wise, but held a great price than many would in scale," the being in white said. "I would hardly call a wasp bight a great price, although perhaps you're talking about it compared to spiders, in which case I would like to inform you how valuable and beneficial spiders are," Cecilia retorted. "Pain is not an evil, if it is a price, it is a good one," the being said, "for it is good for a human to experience pain. The price I was talking about was the life of the wasp." Cecilia looked taken aback for a minute, before finding her voice. "Oh. I suppose the wasp had a family? I suppose it will be missed greatly by some person? I suppose its death will cause a great effect upon the earth? By the way, WHO ARE YOU?" The being appeared to consider a bit, before responding, "I am The Author, my child. My wish was to obtain the power of Daode, the power of wishing. With that power I have created your power, the power of earth." "Well, say whatever you have to say and be quick about it, or else Yona will be missing me," Cecilia said. "You needn't worry, this dimension is outside of your time," they said, "but I came to say this: bring evil down. If evil is removed then only good will be left, and that would be best." "What." Cecilia mentally said. "Remember that fair is foul and foul is fair, but in the end both are dark and dark is light but light is dark, for foul is really fair and fair is really foul because good and evil are above that. They are not mirror images: they are collisions." "You know," Cecilia said, "I doubt even Mrs. Anthony could make sense of that. Anyway, I'm fairly certain we'll be wishing you communicated better in the future, but whatever." "Then go," they said, and Cecilia found herself at the top of the stairs, and suddenly remembered the bite on her toe. Daode appeared next to The Author, they was surrounded by black and The Author by white, so that their clothes seemed to vanish. "I don't know what you mean to prove. Are we not proof, by our existence, of the duality of the universe?" Daode said. "No, for you are not evil," The Author said. A blast of darkness tried to break into the wall of light, but the two sides were equally balanced and neither could prevail. "Darkness is but the absence of light, is that evil?" The Author continued. "I will bring down your children. You love them, do you not? If so, the fate you plan for them is cruel and must bring you pain." Daode said. Now a blast of light surged against the darkness, but the equilibrium remained perfect. "Daode, what was your wish when you discovered that water?" they asked. "What was that wish?" "You will know in time," Daode responded. "But it was not so cruel as yours." The light now shone even more brightly, but did not penetrate the darkness. The Author vanished and his dimension faded away, and Daode was left standing in the schoolyard playground. They sat on a swing, and began to shift shape.. Chapter Ten Schlange dropped down into an alley in the darkness. He ran up along it, silent and looking like some sort of phantom in his victorian-style clothing. A train passed and he leaped onto the roof, pressing himself flat. His cape provided surprising cover and nobody would have suspected a man was in that patch of shadow. A holographic keyboard appeared briefly under his fingers and a projection of a twitter application system. "I'm heading over." Phone in hand, a figure sat in the shadows untransformed. She picked up his phone and replied, "I've found the location of the Csardas." Then she transformed into Taubchen. She was in the countryside, near an old house surrounded by healthy gardens. In the back, beds of thyme, mallow, motherwart, pot marigold, yarrow, hyssop, and other herbs both medicinal and culinary were planted. They were separate from the fragrant peppermint bed, which glistened slightly in the moonlight. She received the message on her holographic twitter projection. "I've arrived." It was from Spatze. "Are any other marquis available?" she asked him. "We could try to hit up Vogel or Nachtigall." "Get Nachtigall. She should see our true duties." ---- Cecilia rolled over as her flute leaped into the air. She grabbed it and a holographic projection appeared with directions. "Follow this," she heard Taubchen's voice saying. Cecilia rolled over and went back to sleep. The flute stabbed her in the stomach. She got up, now wide awake. "FINE but this should be against the law," she said. "It's your duty as a Marquis," Taubchen responded. "Aren't any other Marquis up at this ungodly hour?" Cecilia asked. "I want you to see what being a Marquis is really about," Taubchen said. "FINE," Cecilia said, before playing her music to transform and mounting her piano. A boy woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of Rachmaninoff's piano preludes being played--or rather pounded out--at about 10x tempo and 100x volume. He saw a masked lady in a large dress riding a piano which was rolling down the street at a speed unestimated but certainly above the speed limit. He looked out and rubbed his eyes before running to his parent's room. By the time they were aroused the piano riding lady was gone and they assumed it had been an incredibly odd dream. Bouncing over rocks, going airborn upon collision with potholes which sent crashing chords down the keyboard, leaping fences and shrubs with breakneck speed, barely avoiding trees and smashing through barriers, Nachtigall sent her piano towards her destination. Taubchen appeared before long. "You're playing too loudly! You'll wake everyone up!" "IF I AM AWAKE AT THIS GOD FORSAKEN TIME THEN EVERYONE ELSE MAY DAMN WELL PUT UP WITH BEING AWAKENED BY MY PERFECT PLAYING," Cecilia shouted, quite out of character. Nevertheless, she instead played Liszt's "Liebestraum" quite beautifully the rest of the way. When she arrived at the house she put the piano back into her purse, and looked to Taubchen for instructions. Chapter 11 Still transformed, Cecilia went up and knocked quite nervously on the door of the house, wondering if the "plan" of Schlange was really a good idea. "Hello," an elderly man answered as he opened the door, and started when he saw the figure outside. "Can I help you, Madame?" he asked. "I'm a bit lost," she said,"I am going to a night ball, (yeah RIGHT, she thought to her tired self) and I lost the way. Could you direct me to Kobayashi road?" "Certainly, Madame," said the man, "where is your car?" Taubchen facepalmed from the bushes at this question. "I... er......" "YOu see, I....." "I'm walking." "How can you expect to get anywhere by walking? Kobayashi rd is about 3 miles away itself," the gentleman said. "It's tomorrow night. I expect to get there tomorrow," she said glibly. "I can drive you to a hotel in the city. Where is it being held?" he asked. Out of the corner of her eye Nachtigall could see Schlange and Spatze making incomprehensible signals with their hands. She sighed when suddenly Taubchen walked up beside her. "I can bring her to her destination. I take it you have an interest in gardening?" Taubchen said. "Why yes, why do you ask?" the man said. "I saw some orchids in your beds. I wanted to hear about them," Taubchen responded. "Very well, ladies, I'll show you," the man said happily. While he stepped out of the house, Spatze and Schlange slipped in. They began to look through the house. Schlange sat down by the computer and hacked into it with his holographic keyboard. Spatze investigated notebooks, cupboards, and shelves. "I found a hint!" Spatze said. "He's been working on breeding a new type of mint." "His facebook says he wants to win the AAS awards with a seed," Schlange said. ".....AAS stands for 'All American Seed', we're in Japan," Spatze said. "Maybe he wants to go to America?" Schlange reasoned. "Anyway, this is conclusive proof enough he wished for something to do with mint," Spatze said. "But what kind of wish would make peppermint invade Tokyo?" Schlange all but shouted. "We know he is the Csardas. It doesn't really matter," said Spatze. "I felt no aura from him. He is innocent of meddling," Schlange responded. "Many Csardas are not. They just do not know what they are doing," Spatze said. "I WOULD STILL FELL AN AURA OF MEDDLING," Schlange shouted. In the garden, the man turned around. "I fear there are robbers. Do either of you have cells?" he asked the two ladies. Cecilia could practically feel the anger emanating from Taubchen as she responded, "Yes, I have a cell. Do you want me to call?" "Go ahead," the man said. Taubchen drew her "phone" from her pocket. It was really a device from her transformation which just looked like a cell. "MARQUIS DOVE," the man read," I've never heard of that brand before." "It's a speciality phone from Europe," Taubchen said briefly as she dialled a number. Just then the mint leaped from its bed into a giant about the size of a small house made of tentacles and leaves. Chapter 12 "Give me the computer and let me see," said Spatze. "No! I'm the one who hacked into it!" Schlange said. Spatze grabbed hold of the computer (a laptop) and tried to tear it from Schlange's grasp. The screen came off. "Great. Now I'll have to connect it to a hologram monitor," said Schlange. "This was your fault in the first place," Spatze argued. "If it wasn't for me we wouldn't have tracked down the Csardas!" Schlange pointed out. "Actually it was Taubchen who discovered it," Spatze reasoned. "That is... HOW DID YOU KNOW?" Schlange demanded. ---- Meanwhile, Taubchen dialed a number on her phone device. "Hello, yes? I'm Mrs. Hato. We do have a problem here..." The phone was knocked from her hand by a darting tentacle. The man stepped back in alarm as the mint plant reared its tentacled form. The man gawked as Nachtigall drew a double bass from her little purse and used it as a shield, while using the bow to cut the tentacles. "We are Marquis," said Taubchen to the startled male, "we have come because you are a Csardas, if at this time you do not realize you are." "What do you mean?" he asked nervously. "Don't worry, we're here to protect you. Did you wish for anything recently?" she questioned gently. "I... I... I wished for a new breed of peppermint able to outstrip any competitors.. I didn't realize that humans also compete.." he said. "If you're going for the green aesop then mint is a terrible plant to choose," Nachtigall shouted, "YOU JUST CREATED AN INVASIVE SPECIES." "Spatze, Schlange, get out of the man's house, you're not needed," Taubchen ordered. The two came out and attacked Mentha Spicata. The man ran inside his house. Chapter 13 Schlange flung record disks like boomerangs, slicing through the monster's tentacles. Spatze then hit them with his cane, breaking them into shards midair, and using some gravity manipulation to fling them back into the mint monster. Taubchen leaped into the air and turned around twice. Diving down, her feet fused together into a spear tip. She dove right into the centre of the plant, stabbing it through the roots. Nachtigall pulled out a trumpet and began to play Johann Strauss's Don Quixote. Soundwaves issued force, lending power to Taubchen's attack. The monstrous plant exploded into pieces which were vaporized by waves of sound. Chapter 14 Hibiki awoke in the silence. He looked at his clock, but the numbers were unintelligible to him. He opened the window and looked out, when suddenly bat wings enveloped him from behind. "You have been chosen," a voice said, "to become the Cat. You must make partnership with the cats that follow you. You must achieve their ways, you must understand their language, you must become a cat." "I'm a human," Hibiki said. "You will obtain the powers—and some of the manners— Understand the hours and flee from the tanners— You will be a cat as a man A man as a cat But under the command——— ... ... OF A BAT!" Hibiki awoke, and he would've assumed it was all a dream, were it not for the imprint of bat wings on his back. Next episode: Tout Parle à la Jeune Fille d'Amour! Category:Stephan222